Only, Part Two

Read Part 1 here

"Logan, are you okay?" Hallie called out a little anxiously to her brother. Without any light, she couldn't tell what had happened.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Somehow the cat got up here with us," Logan explained. "I saw something moving behind the boxes; when it dashed out, it scratched me and caught me off guard. I accidentally hit the switch on the lamp, so the lights went out."

"All that was caused by a cat?!" Larissa questioned as Logan turned the light back on.

"Yeah - I mean - no, no," Logan caught himself. "it was a specially trained dog from the Corlat Resistance. It's called a D-8 and it's the most vicious dog man has ever known."

"That's more like it," Larissa teased.

"So, what's in the CR notebook?" Logan asked, changing the subject. "Battle plans? List of spies?"

"Sorry, Logan - it looks like a little girl's diary," Hallie answered, as she was the only one who had actually looked at the notebook so far.

"What - that's it?! It must be a decoy!" Logan decided.

"Yeah, that's it. Just a little girl's diary. But I like reading it. Here, on May 8, 1925, she wrote, 'Today I got a necklace from Aunt Pearl. I want to wear it to church tomorrow. Love, Esther.'"

"That's it? For the whole day?" Logan asked. "Girls," he scoffed.

"Logan, the notebook and the decoration might belong to the previous owners - we need to get it back to them," Hallie pointed out.

"Haven't you already lived here a long time?" Larissa asked.

"Several years..." Hallie began thoughtfully.

"...but there were still previous owners," Logan finished. "Was the previous owner named 'Esther'?" he asked.

"I can't remember," Hallie said slowly as she tried to remember. "I just remember the names Mr. and Mrs. Powell."

"Okay, let's look around up here and see if there is something else from the same girl," Logan strategically suggested.

Everyone spread out and started opening boxes. "Wow, Logan - is this you?" Larissa held up a framed baby picture. "Look at those ears!"

"Yeah," Logan grinned sheepishly. "But you should see Hallie's - she had the curliest hair in Parker county!"

"Hey, here's something," Hallie interrupted Logan and Larissa's laughter. "It's a wooden box I haven't noticed before - oh, look!" she exclaimed as she opened it. Logan and Larissa hurried over to her. "It's full of old black and white pictures, some letters, and a couple of diaries."

"Can you imagine living in such an hold house," Logan asked, for once a little distracted from his mission. Larissa giggled at the change.

"We need to show this to Mom," Hallie decided, definitely the most focused member of the trio.

~~~

"Mom, look at this!" Logan yelled. "We found a metal box in the basement and it had a diary that a little girl wrote a long time ago so we ran upstairs to see if the attic had anything else of hers and Hallie opened this box that had more diaries and some pictures and we think it might have belonged to the Powells."

"Wow," Larissa commented on Logan's explanation. "Nice delivery."

"See, Mom?" Hallie pulled out a black and white wedding picture. "On the back it says, 'October 14, 1939: Mr. George and Mrs. Esther Powell'. The Powells were the previous owners! We need to find them and give it back!"

"I see," Mrs. Stevens examined what the showed her. "I would sure want it all back."

"There's also this beautiful wooden figurine of an open Bible. Below the Bible it says, ''Only one life, 'twill soon be past, Only what's done for Christ will last,'" Hallie held up her favorite item from the box.

"Look at this, Hallie," Mrs. Stevens pointed out. "This birth certificate says Esther Wilson - it must be Mrs. Powell's maiden name. Did you see the birthdate?"

"No," Hallie answered curiously.

"It says May 24, 1917. That would make her ninety-three years old."

"Wow," Hallie said softly.

"Is she still alive?" Logan asked. No one answered.

To be continued...